Thirst of Failure
by Krystal Kerro Sky
Summary: Remade ending to the episode 'Thirst'. Is insanity truly as enjoyable as many think it is?


Thirst of Failure

The vine cinched tighter around him, and no amount of struggling would loosen its heathen grip. He was suspended over the face of the dam, several hundred feet above the frozen cover of the river below. Already the trilobugs were bringing the canister-bomb back up, and he watched as it was dropped into the water. It was getting harder to breath, now, and he barely heard the psychopath's voice. "You lost, Action Man." The rest of his victory speech was drowned out by the pulsing of blood in his ears and the pounding of his racing heart. He never lost—not ever! It was always a stale-mated victory, but this one seemed… more permanent. He would, definitely, lose.

Sudden pain laced from his chest, a burning sensation coupled with the stench of burned cloth and skin. His eyes snapped open, and he looked to see that he was now infected with Gangrene's toxic body-ooze. It was already starting to take a deadly hold on him; his throat closing up, shudders racking up and down his spine. He hit the ground before he knew it, unable to move. There was a thump, muffled, and then the cackling laugh of the deranged scientist.

A fist grabbed his hair, forcing him to look up into the face of the man he learned to hate so much. "Mr. Mann, good to see that you are fighting off the poison so well. Nearly twenty minutes, no antidote, and you are awake enough to hear my words. Let me be the first to congratulate you on your valiant attempt to stop this from happening, but you failed. I don't mean to be so blunt, but it is the truth, and I'm never one to lie." The voice was oily smooth, with the fully-bodied sound of evil frothing forth with hints of victory and loathing.

His voice wouldn't come forth, nothing more than a pant as his lips moved. Part of him couldn't believe he was still conscious, yet willed him to move, to push back the aggressor. There was no hope, least not yet, of freedom.

"Try all you like, but I do have plans for you… starters is getting the AMP factor from you. I might even offer you a place on the Council… if you are still healthy enough to live that long." Dr. X dropped his head back to the cold pavement once more, and everything went black from there.

He had failed his team, failed his fellow athletes, failed the innocent people of the waiting town, and failed himself. All that combined was the worst feeling he had ever had, and on top of the constant pain the poison kept him in… the world soon slowly faded out into a constant thrum of defeat and despair. The times of wakefulness were spent feeling needle pricks, the burn of the poison entering his system, and then falling off again into the deep end of his mind. He was slowly surprised at what he was finding within himself; from memories long thought forgotten, to places, people, voices, he had never been to, met or heard. There was nothing new to learn about himself, except that perhaps he wasn't as sane as he would have liked, and that his insanity made more sense on a regular basis than all the logic he could come up with to fight it off. What was blurry became crystal clear. Images, recent memories, blended together, forming a continuous line of waking, sting, and falling off again.

It was after much searching like this that a time came when X didn't inject him right away after he came back to the real world.

"Mr. Mann… nearly 2 months, and barely any change. I don't get it. What makes you different from Professor Greneholtz? As he told me, this is the same amount of poison that he took regularly, but he still remained awake and moving about—"

"Ever think he might'a been a chicken and only just jumped into a vat of the crap to become as he is now?" Alex replied, feeling a grin spread on his face. He made a chicken clucking noise, and snickered as he watched X keep a straight face.

"Very amusing, Mr. Mann." The scientist replied, crossing his arms.

"Aint it? Should try a mirror, will certainly get a laugh outta that!"

That clearly was tipping the scale just a bit, and there was another sting, and he was off again to la-la land. Once back into the confines of his mind, the conversation stuck out, like a sore to be treated. It replayed over and over again, the same thing, but different angles, watching from different points of the lab. Nothing changed, though… but he could see that his body was no longer as great at it once had been. Captivity had degraded him, weakened him. There were tinges of green forming… was he slowly becoming like Gangrene? He could see the original point, the first attack, and then the subsequent marks from the needles. The professor had been present every time, standing off to the side, watching. For what? Was the conversation a clue? 'Am I now insane?'

That thought jolted him, but not into enough logical thought to process it correctly. He could, though, look at it from several ways; the time spent in his own head, under the influence of the poison, had mentally changed him, made him care less about the outside world. His replies to X had been uncharacteristic of him in the past, but made perfect sense now.

"Mr. Mann?"

It hadn't even been a wake up, but suddenly, X was there, looking at him as he was bound to an up-right table. He knew what he looked like on the outside, but didn't even feel like it. That was a dangerous assumption. He looked frail and weak now. "What's up, Doc?"

The doctor didn't seem at all amused, standing there with his arms crossed, red eye flickering. "Your mental state, actually. I cannot access the AMP factor, and I can't even force you to trigger it."

"Aww, to bad so sad. Does X-sie need a bottle?" Alex made baby noises at X, giving a pouty lip. After a few seconds, Alex started laughing, letting his head fall as his shoulders quaked. "It's your fault, X… you wanted to see the process… so this is a consequence." His words rang true, and the laugh resounded though the lab. He had no idea how long he laughed, but the sting in his neck didn't affect him, except to make him shut up, and look X right in the eyes. "Really now? Is this how it is supposed to be?"

X looked up, a concerned frown etching his face. "Mr. Mann…."

Alex stared at him, wide eyed, unblinking. "I'm not asleep yet. Think this is a break-through?"

"No…"

He turned his head to look to the restraints, and then back to X. "What's wrong?"

X just sighed, and there was a second sting, a whirr, and he was out. More poison, but he could take it, and it wouldn't kill him. The world he was creating in his head was shifting again, the colors turning dark. Something wasn't at all right… He tried digging deep into his mind himself, to find the AMP factor, to see where or what it really was. There was just… nothing. If he, the only person who knew his mind better than anyone else, couldn't find it, then there would certainly be no hope of anyone else finding it, either.

To be continued……


End file.
